The adventures of a professional screenwriter and sometimes film festival jurist, slogging through the trenches of Hollywood, writing movies that you have never heard of, and getting no respect.Voted #10 - Best Blogs For Screenwriters - Bachelor's Degree

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Every year the United States National Film Registry selects 25 films of artistic merit, and this year DIRTY HARRY made the cut along with THE MATRIX. These films have been judged as important works of cinematic art, and will be preserved for future generations. Here are this year's 25 GREAT films...

* "3:10 to Yuma" (1957)

* "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959)

* "The Augustas" (1930s-1950s)

* "Born Yesterday" (1950)

* "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961)

* "A Christmas Story" (1983)

* "The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight" (1897)

* "Dirty Harry" (1971)

* "Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2" (1980-82)

* "The Kidnappers Foil" (1930s-1950s)

* "Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests" (1922)

* "A League of Their Own" (1992)

* "The Matrix" (1999)

* "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair" (1939)

* "One Survivor Remembers" (1995)

* "Parable" (1964)

* "Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia" (1990)

* "Slacker" (1991)

* "Sons of the Desert" (1933)

* "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" (1937)

* "They Call It Pro Football" (1967)

* "The Times of Harvey Milk" (1984)

* "Two-Lane Blacktop" (1971)

* "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1914)

* "The Wishing Ring; An Idyll of Old England" (1914)

If you have not seen the original 3:10 TO YUMA or TWO-LANE BLACKTOP or ANATOMY OF A MURDER, check them out... in fact, check out all of the titles on the list!

The best film I’ve seen so far at Raindance. A combination indie film and big musical that reminded me of the old Warner Bros musicals from the 40s with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler about struggling musicians trying to make it on Broadway. I don’t know whether the title gets in the way or becomes a novelty - but the film actually stars Joe Schermann as a struggling composer who dreams of writing big Broadway shows... But is stuck teaching music, playing piano for auditions, and doing anything else music related to pay his half of the rent. Evey (Christina Rose) is his girlfriend, a struggling actress who also dreams of being on Broadway, but makes a living doing Princess Parties for bratty kids and any other crappy job to pay her half of the rent. All they need is a break, and as their mutual friend Gunther (Mark DiConzo) says, it only takes one person to change your life... one person to discover you and champion you and give you that boost that makes your dreams come true.

What is great about this film is that each character is in some way that one person to some other character.

As the couple struggles and hopes to meet that one person, Gunther lands a casting job for an Off Broadway Show in need of a composer and recommends Joe... but Joe doesn't want to write music for others, he wants to write his own music - and that causes some problems. The other problem - Joe meets an actress at an audition (Summer, played by Debbie Williams) and becomes infatuated with her... she is his new muse, and must hide this from Evey. When the Off Broadway Show gets closer to casting, Joe tells *Summer* that he will recommend her and tells Evey that she’s just not right for the role. Classic love triangle - but with great songs and all of the gritty real bits usually left out in Hollywood films. At times the film seems like Woody Allen’s ANNIE HALL in the way it looks at relationships in a very real (and complicated way). The film manages to be both a big fun musical and an Indie film where things don’t always end happily ever after.

The songs and dance numbers are amazing - and part of the story rather than tacked on as some afterthought, plus the acting is better than most Hollywood films, the production value is *amazing* for a film shot for next to nothing and financed through a Kickstarter campaign. And this film made me cry *twice* - one great scene where Joe wants to quit the Off Broadway job because they want him to mainstream his music, and Gunther talks about how he was a dancer on his way up until his knee injury and now his job is to audition *other* dancers who are doing what he loves... what he wishes he could still do. What would Joe do if he lost his hands and could no longer play the piano or write music? A *heartbreaker* of a scene, and so raw and real I dare you not to cry. The other scene that opened my tear ducts was when Evey storms out of their apartment after finding out about Summer and goes to Gunther’s apartment to cry on his shoulder... and we find out that Gunther is in love with her and has always been in love with her but she’s his best friend’s girl. This wasn't the Hollywood version of this scene, this was the messy real version. In addition to those scenes there are dozens of great scenes that didn't make me cry, but did make feel big time. The film is an emotional rollercoaster that will have you under its spell days after you leave the cinema.

Oh, and plenty of great musical numbers that rival anything Hollywood has done. Songs that stick in your head and will have you humming them later. Every performance, every song, every dance number, every dramatic scene, every *shot* in this film is great. When we come to the big show stopper end song that cuts from character to character wherever they are in New York and then splits the screen to create duets - it’s just amazing. At the Q&A afterwards the director Gary King and star Christina Rose and producer Susie King said that their favorite musical movie was WEST SIDE STORY - and that’s what the last number reminded me of. This film was fantastic.

PS: And the winner is... HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN SONG won Best Feature Film Of The Festival! What was amusing is that Gary, Susie and Christina didn't even know they were nominated (the nominations weren't announced until a day before) and just happened to be in the audience... so they could accept their award. Gary joked that he would have dressed for the occasion. I loved this film, and these guys are the next big thing! Do you hear that, Hollywood?
- Bill

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! It's Oscar Season and the For Your Consideration screenplays are starting to hit the internet! Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Because I screwed up and forgot to write a new entry - here's last week's with all of the screenplays.

Why pay $510 for a used version of the 240 page 2000 version that used to retail for $21.95? (check it out!) when
you can get the NEW EXPANDED VERSION - over 500 pages - for just $9.99? New chapters, New examples, New techniques!

"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the
best book on the practical nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing a screenplay I've ever read."
- Ted Elliott, co-writer of MASK OF ZORRO, SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the sequels (with Terry Rossio). (ie; 4 of the top 20 Box Office Hits Of ALL TIME.)

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! Thanksgiving is gone and the Holiday Season has hit the cinemas - so here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

In the past I've had some Black Friday sales, but this will be the first year that SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING has been available as an e-book, and Amazon pretty much controls the price and promotions, so it's just regular price (which is over $500 less than the used price when it was still out of print). Makes a great gift - and Amazon can even send it as a gift for you.

Why pay $510 for a used version of the 240 page 2000 version that used to retail for $21.95? (check it out!) when you can get the NEW EXPANDED VERSION - over 500 pages - for just $9.99? New chapters, New examples, New techniques!

"SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING is the
best book on the practical nuts-and-bolts mechanics of writing a screenplay I've ever read." - Ted Elliott, co-writer of MASK OF ZORRO, SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and the sequels (with Terry Rossio). (ie; 4 of the top 20 Box Office Hits Of ALL TIME.)

Expanded version with more techniques to flesh out your Supporting Characters and make them individuals. Using the hit movie BRIDESMAIDS as well as other comedies like THE HANGOVER and TED and HIGH FIDELITY and
40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN and many other examples we look at ways to make your Supporting Characters come alive on the page.
Print version was 48 pages, Kindle version is around 170 pages!

Show Don't Tell - but *how* do you do that? Here are techniques to tell stories visually! Using the first Oscar Winner SUNRISE and Oscar Nominee THE ARTIST plus other Oscar Winners as examples...
as well as RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Print version is 48 pages, Kindle version is around 250 pages!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! The Presidential election is over, let the monkey business begin! Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! Halloween is just around the corner - Saturday we begin the 13 Days Of Halloween on the blog. Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Monday, October 15, 2012

There is always one film in every fest that is cinematography porn: one amazing shot after another. This year that film was a thriller from Slovenia called THE ASCENT about a novelist with severe writer’s block due to all of the distractions in the city... whose editor owns some rural property which includes a really remote sheep ranch and the old village - before all but one family moved away. Plenty of room, nothing to do there - the writer decides to go there and finish his novel.

But once he gets there - he discovers that the locals aren’t like you and me. They are just as remote as the desolate and mostly abandoned village. They have odd customs. They are not friendly at all. And they *hate* city people. The family consists of an ultra-stern father, his overly intense son and his wife... and the mute and weird sister (who would be hot if she weren’t dressed for doing farm chores. Because these people are less than friendly, the writer begins spying on them to get an idea of what their lives are like... and what he sees is *weird*. They slaughter an entire flock of sheep - and bury them. No wool or meat from the dead sheep - and the sheep killing seems almost like a pagan ritual. They have taken down all of the pictures and mirrors from inside the house, making it difficult for the writer to shave (the stern father and son have beards). Everything the writer does irritates them, and no matter how hard he tries to be nice to them - it always seems to backfire.

After he saves the epileptic daughter’s life when she has a seizure, the stern father softens a bit - explaining that he’s been testy since an illness hit most of his sheep and they were forced to kill the flock to prevent it from spreading... and asks the writer if he would read them a story from a book (none of them knows how to read) - the only book in the house is a Bible... and they have no idea what it is. They seem to either have no religion or some basic form of worshiping the earth...

But when the writer reads the story of Jesus, it brings religion to them in both good and bad ways.... with horrifying results. This film was so well shot that every frame was like a postcard. A beautiful film that creeped me out and built a great deal of tension.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Very disturbing thriller-drama, and the great thing about a Film Fest is that the filmmakers were there after the showing to explain the genesis of the project. The original script was a standard coming of age story about two boys, and the director decided it might be interesting to subvert that genre by adding some adults to corrupt them. The result is a very creepy movie.

New Years Eve - two 12 year old boys are sleeding and watching fireworks and talking about girls and trying to figure out how sex might work (though, it sounds unlikely to one of the kids - a boy puts his thing *there*? Is sex about peeing?) When a pair of men and an attractive woman approach them and ask if they will run an errand for them. The attractive woman does the asking - will they go to the corner pub/liquor store and buy a liter of vodka? When the boys say they are too young, she asks one his mother’s name, then write a note from his mom saying she is buying the vodka for her. Then she gives the boys her apartment number and some money and walks away with the two men.

The two boys find they can’t buy the vodka with the note, but find a man who will buy for them as long as he gets a couple of drinks out of it. The two boys go back to the apartment and the attractive woman invites them inside. The boys think they might see some boobie and stick around. They kind of get more than they bargained for - the husband of the attractive woman wants her to sleep with his pal - and she’s not that interested... but maybe if she is drunk enough? One of the boys chugs a glass of vodka - and then begins projectile vomiting. Now the two kids are forced to stay - while the boy’s clothes are washed. As the adults play their games - the tension rises because there are two *kids* present. Oh, did I mention that the husband’s pal is a little crazy and torched a house not so long ago? And that they play the music so loud that a policeman comes... and the attractive woman invites him to stay for coffee even though they have basically kidnaped the two boys and there are all kinds of kinky sex games going on just under the surface?

A lot of tension is built, but the next morning the two boys are sent back to their mothers and the adults go on with their twisted lives. Parts of this film reminded me of a Curtis Harrington film called GAMES with a very young James Caan who plays mind games with his wife Katherine Ross... and when they add a strange neighbor Simon Signoret, the games may include murder. In NIGHT TOO YOUNG there is no murder - but no shortage of games that may turn violent at any moment. The two boys have a life altering event... but not in the usual coming of age movie way.

One of the things that I love is when people I know make films that end up at festivals that invite me. I’ve known Jen Westcott online for years - she’s a screenwriter who has won some awards and had some scripts optioned and is right on the cusp of making it in the biz... but she decided not to wait for Hollywood to knock on her door, and with her sister put together a Kickstarter campaign and made their own damned film. At it played at Raindance! And Jen and her sister flew over to see the film on the big screen!

The genesis of the film was Dov Simons course on making your own movie and his advice to put a bunch of teenagers in a house and have a maniac chop them up. Jen & Vic didn’t want to chop people up... but what else could they do with teenagers in a house? Jen came up with garage bands - and being trapped in the garage... and the story was born. So a garage band that is breaking up for all kinds of personal reasons ends up trapped in the garage when the power is cut and nobody knows how to open the automatic garage door manually.

The film is kind of BREAKFAST CLUBish - with a well drawn group of very different kids trapped in the garage together, forced to hash out all of their problems while waiting to be rescued. Of course, one has a couple of blunts in his pocket and even the square kids partake. There are also no shortage of bathroom jokes - as the only toilet they have is an empty can and the only privacy is a pup tent in storage. In fact, the garage as a location is a bit of genius as you find all sorts of interesting things to play with in storage - from stale Halloween candies to tools they might use to try and escape.

The various conflicts that need to be hashed out include Lead Singer Scott who has quit the group after spying his girlfriend fooling around with Lead Guitarist Richie, he’s shown up with his new girlfriend - enemy of everyone - in order to pick up his guitar on the way to an interview with a Business College. Wacky drummer Schinder (source of the blunts) who has some new songs he’s written (and his songs suck - also he wants to change the band’s genre every week and lots of laughs come from his different costumes for each music genre), the Bass Player who has a twin brother who is in the Canadian version of ROTC and is ultra-strict, and Meadow the punk-goth girl who hates everything and everyone and has a sarcastic zinger for everything (I fell in love with her and you will, too), and new singer Abby who is the rich girl whose mother accused Meadow’s maid mom of stealing jewelry, got her fired, and ruined Meadow’s life. Two other characters are *outside* the garage and provide some laughs, Richie’s sister Lizzie who is a spelling bee champ, and Mr. Kaminski the old guy across the street who can not hear their cries for help because he’s vacuuming his driveway.

The film is lots of fun, but because there is no power we get almost no music - and when I first sat down in the cinema waiting to see a film about a garage band, I expected lots of music... and the location wears out its welcome a little too early. We *do* get great background music - and here’s a stroke of genius on the part of the filmmakers: they went online and got songs from hundreds of unsigned garage bands all over the world, then selected the best songs for their sound track. Now one of the ways they are promoting the film is to take it the towns of each garage band on the sound track and do a screening with the band playing before and after. Because they were in London, we had the local garage band Van Susans on their soundtrack playing after the screening (and at Waxy’s Pub before the screening). It was a great experience - how many times does a garage band have a violin?

After the band’s music ended we retired to a local bar where Raindance had bought out the private downstairs section for a party that began in the afternoon and kept going until they kicked us out. I talked with Jen and Vic about the film, and how they reached that point where they decided to just make the movie and not wait for Hollywood to call. I think this is the big message from Raindance this year - if you are getting meetings and nibbles and it’s obvious that you are on the cusp... no reason to wait. Make the movie you want to make.

Monday, October 08, 2012

From Finland - a crime drama about two women who could not be more different: a broke college student who is struggling to pay her bills, and a *tough* mob leg breaker who is sent in to collect debts. If Sam Fuller had written and directed Bergman’s PERSONA it might be this film!

Ellie (Heidi Linden) is a broke college girl who can’t even afford her own beers after class, and depends on the kindness of her friends. When the bills pile up she reluctantly pawns her grandmother’s necklace - a family heirloom - and now has two months to make enough money to buy it back. But there is no way that she can keep up with her bills *and* make enough money to buy back the necklace... Until she meets a businessman in a bar who likes her, and she goes home with him and has sex... and the next morning as she is doing the walk of shame she finds $300 in her purse. A gift? Later when another businessman hits on her in a bar, she says it will cost him $150... and he says yes. Next thing you know, she’s earning enough money to pay off her bills sleeping with businessmen. This is not who she thinks she is... a tear in her identity. She still thinks of herself as a struggling college student, even though she can now buy designer shoes.

Meanwhile, in the back room of that pawnshop a different kind of loan business - the mob’s loanshark enforcers lead by badass female leg-breaker Iris (Kristina Puukko) and her team prepare to collect money... one way or another. You may be imagining that Iris is some big butch woman - but she buys her T shirts in the petite section. But that doesn’t stop her from being crazy violent. Her team of strong men are afraid of her - she has a knife and will slice you open for looking at her funny. In a series of scenes we see her and the team beat the crap out of people behind on their payments... and eventually run into a debtor who has hired a bunch of huge bodyguards. Even though she gets stabbed, she makes sure all of the huge bodyguards have several broken bones and that they collect the money from the debtor. Iris’ wound is sewn up by Andrei (Juha Arola) - and she lowers her guard and puts her knife away long enough to make love with him. This is a badass babe who becomes vulnerable for a moment... and it frightens her. This is not who she thinks she is... a tear in her identity.

When Andrei sees Ellie in the pawnshop and then later in a bar, he starts a romantic relationship with her - and connects the two women in an unexpected way. When Iris discovers the relationship, she finds herself jealous... not used to having someone take what she thinks is hers. Eventually the two women are brought together in some very violent ways - and end up forced to work together when the mob that Iris works for comes after her and she has no place to hide but with Ellie.

The director Marton Jelinko does an amazing job of linking scenes of each woman with the other - one of the things I often stress in Script Tips and articles is *story flow*, how one scene leads logically to the next. In the portion of the film before the two women’s lives intersect, Jelinko brilliantly links the women visually - cutting from one woman looking out a window over the city at night to the other woman in a similar position looking over the city at night. You are never confused and the story never has the stop-and-start feeling that are major flaws in some big budget studio films like SYRIANA. Even before the two women share a scene - they share the *story* visually. Like Bergman’s PERSONA we see how these two very different women’s lives are on a collision course both physically and emotionally. For a first film made for no money, this is an amazing little thriller.

INDEBTED is a film that grows on you - it begins as an indie style drama and as each of the women cross a line they never thought they would have to cross becomes darker and darker until it becomes a full fledged thriller where the characters are forced to deal with one intense and violent situation after another. After seeing the film I liked it... but days later I was still thinking about it. The characters and situations are both realistic and brutal, and you realize these things might happen to you or someone you know... if they owe money to the wrong people.

I believe the actress who plays Iris is probably a romantic lead in most films - she’s playing way against type - but gives a chilling performance in a role usually given to men. Gritty, edgy, and dark - a movie about women in completely non-traditional roles.

PS: And the winner is... INDEBTED for Best Debut Feature! This was one of my two juries, and my #1 pick, so I’m very happy that it won. And when it was time to hand out the Award on Saturday night, it was my pleasure to open the envelope, read the winning film’s title, and hand the award to the filmmakers. Well deserved! I hope this film gets some form of distribution in the US, because it’s the kind of movie they don’t make here. Congratulations again to the filmmakers!

Another Kickstarter campaign movie, made in Los Angeles by some members of The Groundlings Improv Troop... and funny every single scene is filled with things that will make you laugh.

Neal (Kenny Stevenson) is having a very bad day - he comes home early and finds his wife having sex with his best friend, goes to work and gets chewed out by his boss... so he quits, leaves his car in the company parking lot, and walks across Los Angeles to get back to his apartment...

He spends his days sleeping on his sofa in his underpants feeling sorry for himself. His two other best friends and his wacky next door neighbor come up with a plan to get him back up on his feet - the Craig’s List “Missed Connections” ads where people post things like: “You were driving down the 405 freeway Monday at 2pm in your black Porsche, I’m the blonde girl you passed near the Getty Offramp in the green Hyndai. Call me!” Their scheme is to respond to the ads and set a meet, then when the guy in the bllack Porsche doesn’t show and the blonde girl gets tired of waiting, Neal comes over and says “I would never have stood you up” and gets them on the rebound for a night of casual sex. And this *works*! Neal is having all kinds of sex with all kinds of women and beginning to get over his heartbreak... when he is “stood up” several times when the missed connections girl doesn’t show... but the same woman is always near the meet location spying. Who is she?

Jane (Dorien Davies) who has also had her heart broken and is posting *fake* missed connection ads in order to stand up random men to get revenge on the times that she has been stood up! When Neal finally confronts her it’s hate at first sight... and the war begins.

The great thing about casting a bunch of comedians is that they not only have amazing delivery of written lines, they may actually come up with a variation on the written line that is funnier still. Every single character - no matter how small - has funny lines, so there is always something to laugh at... and an amusing and memorable character. Neal’s brother-in-law is only in a couple of scenes - but makes a great impression!

MISSED CONNECTIONS is consistently funny - and a rom-com that I haven’t seen before. When the war begins it’s as if the Road Runner and Wylie Coyote were in a rom-com! The characters and situations and dialogue are great - and for a film shot on a *very* low budget it looks like a big Hollywood movie. This deserves a release in the USA. My fear is that they will do that buy it, shelve it, and remake it thing that often results in the watered down and not as funny studio version... just with big stars. One of the reasons why MISSED CONNECTIONS works is that the actors are all *comedians* and funnier than Jennifer Aniston and whoever they might cast in the male lead.

AFTERWARDS: I did the Q&A with the two leads Kenny and Dorien, who are actually husband and wife, and the producer Lisa Rudin and asked about using Kickstarter and crowd funding in general and how you get that many amazing Los Angeles locations with no money. Also how you find all of these funny people to play small roles. And doing it yourself as a way to make the film *you* want to make instead of waiting for Hollywood to come knocking at your door. As usual, the lesson in all of this is - JUST DO IT!

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Tonight they had the award ceremony at the Raindance Film Fest in London and I got to announce and then hand out the award for Best Debut Feature (I was on that jury and one other), so here are the winners...BEST INT'L SHORT - BUZKASHI BOYS.BEST UK SHORT - THE PUB.BEST DOC FEATURE - BALLROOM DANCER.BEST UK FEATURE - LOVE TOMORROW. (my jury)BEST DEBUT FEATURE - INDEBTED. (my jury - and one of my favorites at the fest... a no budget thriller from Finland that is as if Sam Fuller directed Bergman's PERSONA. I presented this award, and it was cool to give the award to one of my favorites from the fest.)BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE - LAURENTIE.BEST SHORT OF THE FEST (Oscar eligible) - BUZKASHI BOYS.BEST FEATURE OF THE FEST - HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SHERMANN SONG (my favorite film at the fest - a kickstarter funded musical that is amazing! After the awards I went to dinner with the filmmakers and I'm not sure it had sunk in, yet that *they won*. This film plays Nov 1 in NYC at the Landmark Sunshine Cinemas @ 7:30... see it!).Didn't win anything because it wasn't in competition but still amazing: LOVELESS ZORITSA, a Tim Burtonesque rom-com about a woman with a curse - any many who falls in love with her dies in some oddball FINAL DESTINATION way. Love this film! I fly back to LA on Tuesday... hope to get a bunch more reviews up before then!- Bill

Thursday, October 04, 2012

A gem! LOVELESS ZORITSA is a dark comedy that’s a combination rom-com and FINAL DESTINATION movie about an attractive young woman cursed: any man who falls in love with her will die a terrible death. Her childhood sweetheart is walking with her along a lakeside cliff when a seagull poops in his mouth and he loses balance while trying to spit the poop out and falls into the lake and drowns. A rock guitarist is electrocuted in a freak accident. Another man has a giant rock fall from the sky and squash him. Zoritsa is trying to lift the curse - since it gets in the way of her lovelife when every man who is interested in her dies.

Oh, the reason for the curse - she is the first women in her family born without a mustache! The family portraits on the walls of her house are a riot, and the ghost of her Grandmother plays a role in the film - bringing a laugh every time you see her *massive* mustache.

Zoritsa is told by a fortune teller that if she burns the grave of her first love/victim the curse will be lifted - so she goes back to her home town (where she was banned due to the body count) to burn the grave... This is the best *shot* film I have seen in a hell of a long time - it has amazing lighting (like a 40s technicolor movie) and luxurious dolly shots. The production value is *higher* than most current Hollywood films, amazing for a Serbian film. The graveyard scene is amazing - stylized and creepy, like something from a Tim Burton film... in fact, that’s what this reminded me of: Tim Burton.

As men around Zoritsa drop like flies, a small town cop who was original trying to capture her ends up on the run with her when the villagers chase them with the typical pitchforks and torches that villagers have in FRANKENSTEIN movies. The film features a funny tractor vs. Vespa chase, lots of fun scenes... and the more time the small town cop and Zoritsa spend together the more he falls in love with her... and now he wants her to lift her curse before it’s too late! A really original romantic comedy mixed with elements from Universal horror films and beautiful Tim Burton style production design and cinematography.

This is the kind of gem you discover at film fests that makes going worthwhile. If I were a studio executive I would just give these people money to make movies and let them do whatever they wanted - because LOVELESS ZORITSA is a great entertaining movie with a completely different way of seeing the world... a film that will satisfy both arthouse audiences *and* mainstream cinemagoers. One of my two favorite films from Raindance so far (along with HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SHERMANN SONG?).

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

One of the things I love about film fests is seeing movies from other countries that give us a look at their culture - but in an easy to digest manner. The boring dramas that make you nod off due to jet lag don’t usually work for me, but a genre film can keep me awake through entertainment - but still take me into another world and make its point.

STATE OF SHOCK is Rip Van Winkle in what used to be Yugoslavia. In Communist Yugoslavia Peter and his wife Marica are poor but happy - living in a very very small apartment with two children and dreaming of saving up enough to buy a washing machine. Both work full time, but have learned to enjoy their jobs. Peter is a factory worker who carpools to work with his best friend Jovo every day. Though Jovo is a bit of a screw up - he can always work slower, Peter is a happy hard working employee (hoping that the factory manager will recommend him to the Local Party Official to move up to a larger apartment). On Labor Day, the factory is closed - but open later for a celebration where the Local Party Official will award the Factory Worker Of The Year Award. When Peter is chosen for the award, and the prize - a huge apartment - he faints... and goes into a coma for a decade.

When he awakens, Communism has fallen, Yugoslavia is no more (he now lives in a county called Slovenia) no one is a “comrade” and capitalism is king. Oh, and his wife has divorced him and married Jovo - and they live in the huge apartment *he* was awarded ten years ago. Nothing is the same. The factory he used to work in is now robotized and computerized - his job no longer exists... but the *company* (now run by the Local Party Official) offers him $1,000 for every year he was in a coma. But Peter doesn’t even understand money in this new world.

The film is great fun - and the lead actor (Martin Marion) reminded me of Peter Sellers as he stumbles through this new consumer oriented world - seeing it through his old communist ideals. Lots off laughs... but the underlying point soon becomes clear - they may now be able to buy designer shoes, but everyone is so money oriented that they have lost the ability to just be happy. People don’t have time to love. It’s very much a “simple things in life” type movie - but the great device of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe creates hundreds of small things that have changed big time. A charming film - really liked it.

So, my Facebook friend’s film is playing in a program of Raindance Student’s films at just after noon - and I easily make it on time with enough coffee to be fully functional... even though I’d only managed to sleep for 4 hours the night before. I always worry about student films because... well, they are often learning experiences but not great as films. This leads to that awkward moment where you are asked what you thought of the film, and you stumble around trying to find something nice to say. I sat through all of the student films - and most of them had problems. But when my Facebook friend’s film came on - it was the best of the lot. And really good!

The problems with the other films:

1) The first film was unbelievable long for a short. I would guess at least a half hour, though it seemed much much longer because it was mostly two people sitting in chairs with a pile of exposition dialogue about things that happened to them in the past. The situation was good - but the execution was not. The first rule of short films: they need to be short. In the past Raindance has hosted the Nokia 15 *second* short festival, and those films were always really good - or at least, over before you were bored. But I think ten minutes is a good maximum length for short films because they are easier for a festival to program, and at ten minutes even if they are not good they are at least over soon. But also ten minutes means you have to cut the fat and get to the heart of the story. This improves the film because you have to know *exactly* what the story is about and then get to the point right away. If you only have ten minutes, your story ends up more focused - in fact, those 15 second films were often full stories so well focused that they didn't even take a full minute to tell.

2) A few of the other films were well shot, but didn't communicate the story to the audience. They showed things happening without bringing us *inside* the story so that we understood what was happening. The result was an external, uninvolving, unemotional, and basically lifeless and false story. Mechanical. The filmmaker’s primary job is to communicate with the audience - and these films did not communicate.

In the middle of this program of films that didn't quite work were two films that worked well - a musical about killing people with hammers that was only a couple of minutes long and SILENT KILLER, my Facebook friend's film. It opened with an attractive young woman sitting on a park bench and a young man sitting on the same bench and chatting her up. Her voice over tells us that he thinks he’s going to romance her, but what he doesn’t know is that he will be her next victim: she is going to shoot him. She pulls out a huge gun, aims it at the young man... who seems to wet himself... and pulls the trigger. BANG! Cut to about an hour earlier - the young woman realizes the young man is following her, tries to lose him a few times - then begins to lure him to her killing ground. The interesting element is that the young man is deaf, and the young woman can speak in sign language - so when they end up on the bench together the conversation is all done with their hands. But now we know the ending - the young man who probably followed this young woman because she was attractive is soon to become her prey. This builds suspense. The end twist - sorry, spoilers - is that when she pulls the gun it is a water pistol, and she shoots his crotch (he doesn’t wet himself - she wets him) and then she hands him a card that says he’s been “killed” by the Silent Killer - and this is one of those assassination games. The further twist is that she likes him and might look him up later. The story brought us in, we understand what we *think* is going on, and then the story twists at the end.

Even if the story is a mystery where we don’t know what is going on, if you bring us inside the story so that we understand the protagonist and live the story though them, we are being lead into the story and understand the mystery... even though we don’t know the resolution (obviously). A detective type character doesn’t know who the killer is, but they understand the situation and are searching for the solution. But we need to be inside that story and understand the situation - even though we won’t know the outcome. That’s what SILENT KILLER did right and many of the others did not.

Tuesday, October 02, 2012

The good news is that many are half written - so I just need to write the other halves!

My sleep is messed up - it seems like every other day my body wonders why I would want to sleep at 4 in the afternoon... and last night I managed to close a bar after telling Rory (from Raindance) that I would just pop in for a quick drink because I needed to catch up on my sleep. Right.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

On the first full day of the festival I arrived a bit late - missed the morning films. I hadn’t slept well, but had found the time to write that first blog entry on the fest. I looked at the board to see what was playing that might be of interest and luck of the draw was a pair of 45 minute docs from Vice (some TV documentary program that is one of the fest’s sponsors) - one on a Scottish Wrestler and one of Jamaica Fashion Week. I thought both would be a snooze, but instead they were fascinating.

The Wrestling movie was about the Scottish Wrestling scene - they have started their own version of WWE, but kind of a throwback to the 80s version. Very character and story oriented - with heroes and villains and comic relief wrestlers. Lots of costumes and special moves that may be against the rules. The doc focuses on a guy who is a bartender 5 nights a week... and a wrestler on the weekends. He becomes the champion over the course of the doc. He’s this great guy - funny and wrestling because he loves it (not much money to be made in Scottish Wrestling at this point). He starts out as a comic relief character and because he’s an underdog eventually gets his shot at wrestling the champion. After the film the wrestler, the head of the Scottish Wrestling organization, and a couple of others showed up for Q&A. They were great. It was really a doc about chasing your dreams - even if they’re a bit silly.

The fashion week doc... was *not* about fashion week! They used fashion week in Jamaica as the background to look at fashion in that country - and specifically the use of illegal *skin bleaching* and the use of poultry growth hormone drugs in the slums to become more attractive... and maybe find a wealthy boyfriend. These women mix cleaning bleach and hand cream, put it on their bodies (including faces) and wrap them in plastic wrap so that the bleach *burns* their pigmentation off. It’s frightening. The result is also scary - because instead of looking lighter skinned, the women look ill. Deathly pale. The “chicken pills” are bought underground and taken to increase the butt and breast size (plumping them like a chicken’s breasts) - and often the pills they buy are something else entirely. They do all of these things to be more attractive... but it’s really frightening. They show a woman who is burned and disfigured due to the bleaching. All of this is going on in the slums while there’s a fashion show downtown. Afterwards the host of the documentary (who looks like an ex fashion model) talked about the experience and how these women damage their bodies to look beautiful. What I thought was interesting is that she didn’t think there was a correlation between the bleaching of skin and the dangers of skin cancer from tanning skin to look beautiful. I think it’s frightening the way people want to alter their bodies to chase some concept of beauty.

Before the film is an improv troop to warm up the audience - and they are only mildly funny... but they do a pun-filled skit that uses the titles of Hitchcock films which might help me fill my class at the end of the festival on Hitchcock movies. Since I’m not being paid to do these classes, the audience headcount becomes my “payment”. After the comedy, the horror!

After the blog entry on depressing and odd films, the festival opens with a genre film. A very interesting and original horror film from Mexico called HERE COMES THE DEVIL. It opens with two naked women in bed together - one lesbian and one curious. Afterwards the curious woman feels guilty and strange... and then there is an unexpected knock at the door. The lesbian woman answers... and it’s a crazed serial killer who chops off all of her fingers and puts them in a bag! There is a fight, the serial killer is wounded, and we follow him as he drags himself back to this odd rock formation.

Years later, a family on holiday stops at the base of the same rock formation. The two tween kids - a boy and a girl - ask if they can explore the rocks. The parents tell them to be back in an hour... and once the kids have gone the parents begin fooling around in the car. They haven’t had sex in ages because the kids are always around. Afterwards they fall asleep in the car... and when they wake up the kids have not returned. They go to the police and report the disappearance, and then check into a motel to wait for word. The next morning the kids are discovered walking down the street - but they seem... different. More sullen than usual. Hard to tell with kids that age. They head home, but mom thinks the kids are really acting strange and...

More would spoil it for you, but the film is very disturbing and the filmmaker compared it to Weir’s PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and Roeg’s DON’T LOOK NOW - which are two of my favorite low-key horror films. There are also traces of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and COLUMBO and THE EXORCIST and CARRIE. The thing I liked about it is that it was a completely original horror film - not vampires or zombies or anything like that... but a cursed *place* and anyone who goes there is changed. What ends up great about this concept is that when mom and later dad go to the rock formation we worry that *they* will not return the same. The movie is very disturbing and gives us a look at Mexican middle class life, rocked by terrors both human and supernatural. Great performances by all - and there’s even a kind of Mexican Michael Berryman type weirdo who lives in a trailer at the base of the rock formation... and may have some sinister hobbies. I mentioned in my tweets that the film had more nudity than I expected from a Catholic country, but it also has the sort of haunting and disturbing horror that makes you worried about people you *think* you know - what if they have been to this rock formation and the evil has rubbed off on them?

There was an afterparty at Café Paris with The Real Tuesday Weld playing. I met Josh, a documentary filmmaker from Oregon who has a film at the festival and a guy who follows me on Facebook and has a short in the student films. Because I was tired and jet lagged - a couple of bees pretty much did me in and I went back to my hotel room to see if I could sleep even though my bodyclock was saying it was daytime. Eventually I fell asleep...

Thursday, September 27, 2012

It's the end of day 2 of the festival and I have fallen behind on my reports - but I thought I'd mention that I've seen some great films... and full reviews will follow.

The opening night film was a very disturbing horror film from Mexico called HERE COMES THE DEVIL, and it was not at all depressing... though after seeing it you will never trust anyone again.

I saw a pair of docs from the same "label" - one on a wrestler in Scotland and one on skin bleaching in Jamaica - though the skin bleaching thing is kind of scary, the people were not depressed or morose. The wrestling doc was funny and uplifting.

And I also saw an amazing film - HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN SONG? - which is a musical... but not like CATS. It plays again on Monday at 1pm, and if you're around - go see it! It's a strange hybrid of indie film and Broadway musical, and you'll laugh, you'll fall in love, you'll cry, and you'll end up with some of the songs stuck in your head. The amazing thing about the film: funded with a Kickstarter program and made for pocket change. I didn't know that when I saw the movie, and just assumed that it cost much much more than it did - looks like a much bigger film.

Story in a nutshell: struggling songwriter teaches music and plays for auditions and does anything else to make a buck, lives with a struggling actress who does Princess Parties and anything else to make a buck - and both are *fighting* for their big break. Songwriter's oldest friend tells him that it's a numbers game, and you only need *one person* to see your talent and give you that break that starts your career.

So, in addition to being on *two* juries, they asked if I would do some lunchtime classes during the festival and I agreed. In the past I had done 4-5 classes, this time I'm doing *7* classes! I'm not sure when I supposed to sleep. But this is the deal of the century - the classes are L5 (except fore the two Saturday classes which are only L10) and several of them are brand new.

Script Classes from A Fiver!

The class of the book! How to write an effective plot twist, create unbearable suspense, design an exciting action sequence, create a high concept villain's plan, use diversion & anticipation to make your script unpredictable, and create great heroes and villains. Why an action scene is a *character* scene and a *story* scene - or it's rubbish. How to write a page-turner action script. Dozens of techniques that can be used in any genre.

From MARTYRS to ORPHAN, horror is hot! You'll learn everything you need to know to write in this genre, from creating dread, loss of free will, fear of the unknown, classic horror (like THE OTHERS) vs. Stalk & Slash and Modern Horror. How to create a monster. What do ROSEMARY'S BABY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE OTHERS have in common? This class will tell you! All of the critical elements necessary to write a script that scares audience.

By page ten you have either hooked your reader and made them want to read more, or lost them... and they set your script aside. You don't get a second chance to make a good first impression! This class will teach you techniques that will make your first page exciting and engaging to readers, and methods to hook readers by page ten so that they *must* find out how your story ends.

How to find and develop ideas that Hollywood is looking for and you are passionate about. A great script with a dull idea is a dull script. Learn tools like Magnification, Flipping, Substitution, Cousins, Word Association, why High Concept is *Your* Concept, finding your personal themes in high concept ideas.

Two of the hottest types of stories right now are Found Footage films like CHRONICLE and PROJECT X and the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY movies, and Contained Films like BURIED and CUBE and BRAKE and PHONE BOOTH. But how do you come up with ideas like this and how do you write them? We'll look at both types of films, plus the history of each in this class.

Making your own film? Writing for a niche market? Writing a web series? This class covers everything you need to know - from Central Locations to Confined Cameos to Robert Rodriguez's school bus. Using examples from MOON, THE COOLER, STATION AGENT and films produced by the instructor for pocket change, this class is packed with information. How Indie films challenge the audience (while mainstream films reassure the audience). Writing for a budget, writing for non-actors, getting the most production value out of your budget.

Radical story experiments from the films of Alfred Hitrchcock. From False Flashbacks to Multiple Stories (like PULP FICTION) to Single Shot Films to Parallel Stories to Fixed Point Of View to Villain Protagonists to Symbolism to Dream Sequences (from Dali!) - Hitchcock's stories often used experimental storytelling techniques that are seen as unusual and cutting edge *today*. Discover how you can use these techniques in *your* screenplays.

I arrive in London sleepy and disoriented and a night of sleep doesn’t really help. I wake up on Wednesday, which is opening night of the festival, and walk down to Raindance’s new offices. The old offices were in the heart of Soho, in a basement which had film production companies on the floors above. One day on the way to the old office I passed Hugh Grant - it reminded me of the time Gene Hackman and I were waiting to cross a street together in Beverly Hills. The old Raindance office was cramped. The new offices are near Charing Cross Railway Station in the old rehearsal place for The Players Theatre Company - there’s a theatre named after them a few blocks away. It’s still a basement - but a very large area with offices, two rehearsal spaces, and enough room for a jet lagged writer to have a seat and chat while the insanity of festival organization goes on around him.

One of the odd things about a commercial Hollywood writer at a film festival is that festivals often cater to odd tastes that mainstream cinema - and even arthouse cinema - tends to ignore. So there are always a handful of films that you can’t see anywhere else - and maybe for good reason. I had a conversation later that night with a couple of Facebook Friend filmmakers I had never met F2F before about the problems of a US film industry that is *too focused* on the bottom line - and allows great films with a limited audience to go unseen. But there are also films with audiences so slight that one cinema showing at a film festival attracts every single person in the world who would ever want to see this film - and half of the people in the cinema might be people like me who want those two hours of my life back after the house lights go on.

In the Raindance Office they see me as a new volunteer to do Q&A after some film screenings. But here’s the problem: the Raindance staff has already requested to do the Q&As for films that interest them - some films many staff members *fight* over to do the Q&A - and what is left are the films that no staff member wants to do the Q&A for (and a few that no staff member has selected). As they pitch me these films to do Q&A for, I look them up in the festivals program and read the descriptions... and I don’t want to do most of them. There are a couple that I say yes to - a thriller and a couple of indie films where the “making of” story sounds like it would be interesting - but when I look up many of the others my answer is that I am not interested at all...

Most of these films actually have the word “depressing” in the description that was designed to make you want to see the film! The descriptions for these films all sound the same - two people in a room struggle with depression. They all took place in the winter. So here’s what I would have asked the filmmakers if I had done the Q&A....

Depression is a serious illness. Why would you want to make a film with the intention of *infecting* other people with this illness? Why would you want to be the Typhoid Mary of depression? Infecting total strangers around with world with this illness? How can you *morally* allow your film to be shown to an unsuspecting audience? I suspect none of the filmmakers have considered the moral implications of making a depressing film. I’m sure they were all thinking that this is self expression or showing reality as they see it - but are either of those a good reason to infect strangers with your illness?

Of course, they have the right to make their movies... but while people jump on violence in cinema and sex in cinema, why does no one jump on depression in cinema? When I see violence in a film, I do not wish to go out and perform violence. But when I see a depressing movie, I do become depressed. So when I return from the festival I’m going to make up some picket signs and pamphlets and begin my crusade to put an end to depressing films. The world is an unhappy place and you are going to die - do we really need movies that rub our noses in it? Hate me if you want - I *am* a crazy crackpot.

Speaking of crazy crackpots - that’s one of the other kinds of extreme narrowcast films you will find at festivals. Folks who have a “unique vision”, as in: no one else understands their films. You can watch them as some sort of art curio - but that doesn’t make them any more accessible. There’s a survival of the fittest in all things - including cinema. Some films go largely unseen for good reason. There are films which are the arthouse version of BIRDEMIC - so bad or odd that they become an “I dare you to see it” sort of thing. Of course, when we’re dealing with an arthouse movie, sometimes the oddity of the film is mistaken for art... often on purpose. Any film which rebels against the conventions of cinema is automatically “great art”. Focus? Sound? Lighting? Good acting? Making sense? Our film rebels against those concepts and is a blurry mess of images too dark to fully make out with mumbling non-actors who all dress exactly the same! Critics hate my movie - and I wear that as a badge of honor! Audiences hate my movie - and that proves that it’s great! Everything anyone says is “wrong” with my film is proof that it is genius! Yes, I accidentally shot an entire reel without removing the lens cap - but that reel defies the conventions of cinema! Here’s my question about films like this: If the filmmaker doesn’t make the film for the critics or audience - only for themselves - why do they show it to anybody? Why not simply make the film and shelve it? If it is *really* made only for themselves, why would they even want others to see it?

Well, I declined to do Q&A on any of those films.

Before leaving the office, Julian (Festival Director this year) mentions that there’s a cocktail party for the jury members and some select guests at 4:30... right before the opening night film. I look at the time - it is 3:00. I have my backpack and laptop - which means I have to walk back to my hotel and drop them off. By the time I make the round trip, it’s almost 4:30 and I have yet to have a meal. I am jet lagged and exhausted and... there are free beers!

I meet a couple of the other jurors, and some of the special guests (mostly sponsors of the festival) and have some free beer (mistake) and chat up the pretty bartender. I talk to one of the special guests who has a filmmaking program in Ireland and wonders if I teach screenwriting as well as write screenplays - yes, I do. So I may be headed to Ireland next year. I talk to some other folks - but the beers have hit me hard and I just want to go to sleep. But, I won’t be able to sleep, because the opening night film will begin soon, so our group walks from the bar to the cinema... where the jury members have roped off seats in the back of the cinema. I've never sat in the roped off seats before! Even at the premieres of my films, as screenwriter you don’t get a special roped off seat. The stars do, I don’t. I grab the seat on the aisle so that my knees won’t be under my chin for the whole film, and...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! Summer is over... and now on to those artsie films of fall! Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! Gearing up for Labor Day Holiday Weekend and the Big Labor Day Movie Releases like... ??? Here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! Joss Whedon wants you to e-mail your local cinema and have them book an indie movie so that you can boycott it! That story, plus more in this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the new EXPENDABLES movie here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the new BOURNE movie here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Lancelot Link Thursday! To prepare you for the last BATMAN movie (until the In High School reboot) here are this week's links to some great screenwriting and film articles, plus some fun stuff that may be of interest to you. Brought to you by that suave and sophisticated secret agent...

My Books

About Me

I've written 19 films that were carelessly slapped onto celluloid: 3 for HBO, 2 for Showtime, 2 for USA Net, and a whole bunch of CineMax Originals (which is what happens when an HBO movie goes really, really wrong). I've been on some film festival juries, including Raindance in London (four times - once with Mike Figgis and Saffron Burrows, once with Lennie James and Edgar Wright). Roger Ebert talked about me with Gene Siskel on his 1997 "If We Picked The Winners" Oscar show. I'm quoted a few times in Bordwell's great book "The Way Hollywood tells It". My USA Net flick HARD EVIDENCE was released on video the same day as the Julia Roberts' film Something To Talk About and out-rented it in the USA. I've also written a whole bunch of theatrical projects that never got made (I got paid) and was stupid enough to actually *turn down* the job of adapting Dan Brown's ANGELS & DEMONS. On the personal side - I'm single and fat and 6 foot 4 inches tall. Like dogs, hate cats.Why is the blog called Sex In A Submarine?